Sept. 23, 1964 - The Cincinnati Reds were authorized by the baseball commissioner to print World Series tickets today. The way things are going with the National League-leading Phillies lately, they may be needed.
The second-place Reds completed a sweep of their three-game series before 23,247 disappointed fans at Connie Mack Stadium tonight. Vada Pinson (right) knocked in four runs with a pair of homers, and the Reds downed the Phils, 6-4.
It was the seventh victory in the last eight starts for the Reds, who now trail the Phillies by only 3½ games. The Phillies have only nine games remaining, including a pair with the Reds at Crosley Field the first weekend in October. The Ohioans have 10 games left.
The defeat, the seventh the Reds have administered to the Phillies in their last nine meetings, was a see-saw affair which was decided in the seventh inning.
That’s the frame when Pinson, who had homered to put the Reds ahead at 2-1 in the sixth, snapped a 3-3 tie with his second clout of the night over the rightfield fence.
That was also the inning when Reds’ relief pitcher Sammy Ellis walked the bases full with one out and proceeded to strike out Tony Taylor and Johnny Callison with the tying runs on base. That was the ball game.
“I didn’t bring in a lefty to face Callison,” explained Reds acting manager Dick Sisler (left), “because Ellis has been my stopper. Sammy’s been my good-luck piece ever since I’ve been managing.”
“They were perfect pitches,” said Ellis, who got a round of applause from his happy teammates when he arrived in the clubhouse after a postgame radio interview. “I guess you’re lucky when you make pitches like that. But boy, was I wild before that.”
Did the rookie expect to stay in the game to face Callison?
“Yeah,” he replied. “I thought I’d stay in because that’s the first time I’ve been wild all year. I led the Coast League in walks two years in a row — in ’62 and ’63. But up until tonight, I’ve been averaging two walks per nine innings this year.”
In the Phillie clubhouse, manager Gene Mauch tried to smile. “Look,” he said, “we’re here now, and a week from Sunday [the last day of the season], we’ll still be here.”
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